Ricoh GXR Mount A12 first pictures

After trying out a pre-production module from Ricoh a while ago (Cristian Sorega Photography: GXR Mount A12 Preview), I could not wait any longer and had to get one of the first modules available. I just love the module, it works great with M lenses and the Leica R lens I tried using an adapter. The image quality is great and manually focusing is very easy, especially in low light and with fast lenses.

Here are some first pictures I took with it and the Ricoh GR f2.8 28mm lens, the Voigtlander Heliar f4.0 15mm, the Zeiss Biogon f2.0 35mm and the Voigtlander Ultron f1.7 35mm.

How works the 15mm Voigtlander? This lens is nearly impossible to mount on a M8/9 without huge colorshifts at the sides of the pics. Please shoot black fabrics with any lens in order to test the magenta/IR resistance of the filterglass ontop of the sensor. Thanks!
Coming Friday i'll have my GXR in my hands, at first with the A12 28mm due to backorders for the Mount.......
It seems that Ricoh made their homework very well.....

How works the 15mm Voigtlander? This lens is nearly impossible to mount on a M8/9 without huge colorshifts at the sides of the pics. Please shoot black fabrics with any lens in order to test the magenta/IR resistance of the filterglass ontop of the sensor.

Click to expand...

The 15mm lens works very well, I did not see any colour shifts, only slight vignetting but setting the vignetting correction to +1 or +2 gets rid of it. It works much better on the GXR than the Epson RD1 or the GF1 I used it on before.

Hi Cristian, from what you've shared it seems the GXR mount is looking very good indeed. The photos do look very sharp and crisp from what you've shared, especiallythe architecture photos I'm trying to get my hands on one to try before I decide if its really for me, but it seems like the general opinion of users is that it takes some getting used to the focusing system.

Yesterday I picked up my GXR with a A12 28mm module. What a deep pond of settings........ughh too much for an old fart........
BUT the usability of the focus assist, especially the high pass embossed version works fine from the start. In the dim light of my living room the edges of things I pointed to changed very visible from 'soft' to hard-edged so it wasn't a problem, even wearing glasses.
For the Mount I'll have to wait.
Now I have to learn to switch off all possible menue points to get a naked Leica.......or NikonF... ;-)

... but it seems like the general opinion of users is that it takes some getting used to the focusing system.

Click to expand...

It takes some time to get used to it as any focusing method other than a good AF system but it should not take longer than a few tries to decide which MF assist option works better for you and then it's just about finding out how it shows the exact focus point and the DOF after this.

For me mode 2 with the high pass filter plus the magnified square on the screen at 2x magnification work best in both good and especially in low light.

... What a deep pond of settings...
Now I have to learn to switch off all possible menue points to get a naked Leica.......or NikonF... ;-)

Click to expand...

I would recommend you take the time once to set the camera up the way you want and after you'll never have to see the menu again. For the A12 50mm and 28mm modules I always have one of the Fn buttons assigned to swap between AF/Snap, one for MF, set the Adj. toggle to change ISO and set the Adjust menu for picture settings like aspect ratio, colour/b&w and maybe WB.
For the Mount I would use the Fn buttons to toggle the magnification and one I have for turning the MF assist on and off (but I hope Ricoh will allow to toggle between both modes in a upcoming firmware).

The more I use this module, the more I realize I will not need any other camera but I will probably end up with a collection of M and L lenses. The handling is as usual with Ricoh fantastic but it is actually possible to operate the GXR Mount A12 with legacy lenses using only one hand to operate all functions, including setting aperture and focusing, no other camera allows this as far as I know.

Links in this page may be to our affiliates. Sales through affiliate links may benefit this site. We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.